Textile apparatus

ABSTRACT

A ROLLER FOR DRIVING A FALSE TWIST SPINDLE HAS A RIGID CORE SURROUNDED BY A COATING OF MOLDABLE MATERIAL WHICH IS REINFORCED BY HIGH-TENACITY MATERIAL IN WHISKER FORM

Oct. 19., 1971 H, w, LEE; 3,613,467

TEXT ILE APPARATUS Filed Dec. 11. 1969 I'Jnitec'l States Patent O 3,613,467 TEXTILE APPARATUS Harold William Lee, Poynton, England, assignor to Ernest Scragg & Sons Limited Filed Dec. 11, 1969, Ser. No. 884,180 Claimspriority, application Great Britain, Dec. 12, 1968, 59,115/ 68 Int. Cl. F16h 55/34; D01h 7/46, 7/92 U.S. Cl. 74-215 15 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A roller for driving a false twist spindle has a rigid core surrounded by a coating of moldable material which is reinforced by high-tenacity material in Whisker form.

This invention relates to supporting and/or driving rollers for false twist spindles of false twist crimping machines.

The invention comprises a roller for supporting and/ or driving a false twist spindle, said roller having a hollow rigid core and a coating thereon of a mouldable material containing reinforcing elements of a high tenacity material in Whisker form.

The reinforcing elements are preferably of a material having good heat conducting qualities such as carbon, and are of a size such that their diameter lies between 0.2 microns and 6 microns and their length between 2.5 microns and 300 microns. The reinforcing elements are introduced into the mouldable material before moulding the coating on to the core of the roller.

The mouldable material should have good frictional and wearing qualities for contacting the false twist spindle, a suitable material being polyurethane. This material is used to form a coating on the surface of the core, the thickness of said coating being between 0.015 and 0.100 inch.

The material from which the core is made should have good heat conducting qualities and may be aluminum alloy, die cast to the required shape.

Embodiments of rollers according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly sectional plan view of one type of roller and a false twist spindle.

FIG. 2 is a partly sectioned elevation of the rollers and spindle of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a partly sectioned elevation of another type of roller.

FIGS. l and 2 illustrate rollers 11, 12 supporting a false twist spindle 13. The rollers are mountable on drive shafts (not shown) vwhich are themselves mounted in bearings in a false twist crimping machine to be drive by any known means, e.g. by contact of a wharve thereof with an endless belt. Only one of the rollers may be so driven, the other roller serving to support the false twist spindle. A false twist crimping machine will usually have a plurality of false swist spindles, each of which is supported and driven by a roller or rollers as shown.

The rollers are provided with an axial bore 14 through the core 15 for receiving a drive shaft. The core 15 has flanges 16 at either end, each of which anges has a plurality of holes 17 spaced apart adjacent its periphery.

A mouldable polyurethane material 18 forms a thin Patented Oct. 19, 1971 coating (0.015 to 0.100 inch) on the said periphery, and also covers the outer parts of the upper and lower axially facing surfaces of the flanges 16 as well as filling the holes 17 whereby the keying of the polyurethane to the core is enhanced.

FIG. 3 illustrates a roller 30 for supporting a false twist spindle. The roller 30 is provided with an axial bore 31 through the core 32 for receiving a drive shaft. The core 32 has anges 33 at either end and a coating 34 of mouldable polyurethane material on the periphery of the anges 33.

Dispersed Within the polyurethane coating 18 of FIGS. 1 and 2 and 34 of FIG. 3 are Whisker elements 19, 35 respectively of carbon. The lengths of the elements lie between 0.2 micron and 6 microns and their diameters between 2.5 and 300 microns. They are introduced into the mouldable material prior to the step of moulding the polyurethane on to the core. In this way, the filaments tend to align themselves in the optimum directions to contribute to the strength of the coating.

False twist spindles in false twist crimping machines at present in use rotate at speeds of up to 600,000 r.p.m. Such high speeds of rotation are achieved by supporting the spindle in bearing rollers, one at least of which may be a driven roller. In order to increase this speed it is necessary to increase either the diameter or the r.p.m. of the driving roller. In either case greater stresses are generated in the drive roller which may tend to cause failure of the roller. Due to the contact between the rollers and the false twist spindle heat is produced which reduces the ability of the rollers to resist the stresses generated by their high rotational speeds.

In the rollers above described, the inclusion of the Whisker elements into the mouldable material of the coating adds strength to the material and also aids in dissipation of the heat generated at or near to the surface of the roller. The thickness of the coating lis kept within the specified limits also to improve heat dissipation to the core of the roller which is of a material having good heat conducting qualities for the same reason.

What we claim is:

1. A roller for supporting and/or driving a false twist spindle, said roller having a rigid core and a coating thereon of a mouldable material containing reinforcing elements of a high tenacity material in Whisker form.

2. A roller according to claim 1, wherein said reinforcing elements are of a material having good heat conducting qualities.

3. A roller according to claim 2, wherein said reinforcing elements are of carbon.

4. A roller according to claim 3, wherein said reinforcing elements are between 0.2 and 6 microns in diameter.

5. A roller according to claim 4, wherein said reinforcing elements are between 2.5 and 300 microns in length.

6. A roller acording to claim 5, wherein said mouldable material has good frictional and wearing properties in contact with said false twist spindle.

7. A roller according to claim 6, wherein said mouldable material is polyurethane.

8. A roller according to claim 7, wherein said coating is between 0.015 and 0.100 inch thick.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said core is of a material having good heat conducting qualities.

10. A roller according to claim 9, wherein said core is of die-cast aluminium alloy.

11. A roller according to claim 10, wherein said core is provided with a ange at least at one end.

12. A roller according to claim 11, wherein said flange has spaced apart holes adjacent its periphery.

13. A roller according to claim 12, wherein said holes are filled with said mouldable material which is integral with said coating to key the coating to the surfaces of the flange.

14. A roller according to claim 10, wherein said core is provided with flanges at both ends.

15. A roller according to claim 14, wherein each flange has said coating on its periphery and on the outer portions of its upper and lower surfaces.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/ 1962 Raschle 57-77.45 X 2/1965 Frye 74-215 X 1/1970 Bieniok 57-77.45

FOREIGN PATENTS 9/ 1962 Germany 74-215 10 LEONARD H. GERIN, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

